Most NC voters think they pay higher taxes than people in other states (Public Policy Polling)
April 20, 2010
Every week it seems there’s a new study or statistic that some interest group or other can use to claim that North Carolina does or does not have an unusually high tax burden. When it comes to the perceptions of voters though it’s no contest- North Carolinians think they pay higher taxes than people in other states.
59% of voters in the state feel that way compared to 26% who think North Carolina’s taxes are about the same as other places and 10% who feel that the state has lower taxes. It’s a sentiment that there’s bipartisan consensus on- 70% of Republicans, 56% of independents, and 52% of Democrats think that residents of the state pay more than average.
So do these numbers spell big trouble for Democrats as they try to keep control of the General Assembly this fall? I doubt it. Only 3% of voters in the state say taxes are the most important issue to them. And although we’ve never asked this particular question before I imagine the numbers would have been pretty similar even when the state had Republican Governors or for the brief time it had a Republican House. And it’s harder for Republicans to use this as a wedge issue when voters across party lines feel the state has unusually high taxes- there’s a pretty large segment of the electorate that feels that way and is still perfectly content to vote for Democratic candidates.
I would, however, advise Democratic candidates not to try to convince voters that North Carolina’s taxes aren’t unusually high. The perception is so widely held that it’s probably immutable. Better to focus on the positive aspects of the state that result from them.
This analysis is also available on our blog:
http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2010/04/nc-voters-think-they-have-higher-taxes.html
The full results of this poll question can be seen here:
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/PPP_Release_NC_415.pdf
